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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Tuesday was a predetermined all-out, go crazy work day. I took the day off from work and recruited some help. Steve, Kim, Mandy, Tom, Jennifer, Krista, Matt and Amber were all crazy enough to sign up (or be tricked into) helping. We had about 4,100 linear feet of cedar bevel siding that needed stained. I opted to use Sikkens CRD stain, Cedar color.

With cedar bevel siding, it's important to stain all 6 sides of the siding. Rather than brush or roll it on, we set up a manufacturing operation to dip the boards. I built a trough out of 2x12 boards and lined it with plastic sheeting. We then poured about 40 gallons of stain into the trough. With all the help that showed up, we set up a process. We had sanders, dippers, and squeegee-ers.

Sanders. Each board needed sanded with 80 grit sand paper to prep for staining. Each board had a smooth side and a rough cut side. The smooth side just needed a light sanding, while the rough side needed a bit more sanding to knock off some of the cedar "hairs". After sanding, both sides needed to have the dust removed. We did this by blowing the boards with compressed air.

Dippers. Each board was 16 feet long. We had two individuals, dippers, hold the boards and dip them half-way into the stain. The board was then rotated and dipped to cover the other half. The dippers held the board for the sqeegee-ers (read below), and then carried the boards into the house and placed them on drying racks. Note: We built drying racks by nailing 6" nails into 2x4's every 2-inches.

Squeegee-ers. The other members of the team were sqeegee-ers. After dipping each board, we had two people walk along each side and squeegee off the excess stain. These team members got to walk back and forth each board twice, which comes out to a bit more than 3 miles. We also sqeegee-ed off the bottom of the boards as well.

Overall, it was a good process. Mandy did a good job capturing it on video:

This was a huge effort and I couldn't have done it with out a lot of help. It was hot and sunny, and we certainly wore out our help by the end of the day. They stayed despite the heat and long day, and didn't quit until well after dark. To make matters worse, it was the first year since 1985 that the Royals had made the post-season, and the game was on that evening. Big shout out to those brave, committed souls who helped so much!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Our contractor got the posts installed at back of the house for our back deck and porch. They are 20' cedar posts, 6x6 in width. They're about 7 feed apart. To attach the back deck, we needed to install a 2x10 ledge board against the house and a double 2x10 rim board around the posts. We notched out the posts to accommodate the rim boards. It was quite a feat to notch the boards while they were standing. We got a large 4x8 pallet with plywood attached to it and put it on the forks of the Bobcat. I stood on the pallet and used the circular saw to cut a bunch of kerfs into the post. I then knocked them out and cleaned out the notches with a

Once the notches were installed, we put the rim board inside the notches.

We weren't able to completely finish on Saturday, so Monday Nate and Steve helped again and we finished putting in the last of the floor joists.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

We have progress in the front and back of the house. We also have doors all around. Two in the front, and four in the back. Its a lot of doors and a lot of future locks. For some reason, I have yet to take a picture of the doors.

A few days ago Reed and Will helped me install some electrical boxes. They had a good time; much more fun than picking up scrap 2x4's, which is what they have been doing when they help.

We also got our back beams installed. We were happy to see them come in, as it was the next step before we can get the back deck on. Once the deck is on, we can put on the back porch and get the roof in. We used eight 20' cedar 6x6 posts. I had the framers install them, so they would get put in nice and straight (not that I doubted myself).

Friday, September 19, 2014

Yesterday we got some good weather and some good progress. But first, a quick shot of the front of the house to catch everyone up on where we are:

Now to the back of the house. Our flatwork contractor, Vanderford Construction, was out and put in the back patio. The back patio also has concrete piers underneath it to support the posts that hold up the back deck and the roof overhang. We were looking forward to getting the patio poured so we could finish up the framing.

I opted to bring the concrete around the back of the suspended garage to give myself a concrete pad behind the back double door. It'll be much easier to bring future projects in and out of the back double doors with a mini driveway.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Well, framing is just about finished! It's exciting to see the house coming along. The last several days we've been able to see progress each day.

Last week we got the floor of the second story installed. It was fun to walk across the catwalk.

Then they started putting in the upstairs roof panels.

They used a Lull to pick up the panels and hoist them up to the roof.

After another day of framing they got the rest of the south side of the roof panels in place.

When they lift the panels, they have to drill holes in them to fasten the lifting bracket to the panel. Once the panels are in place, they fill the holes with foam. Excess foam pieces were found in the upstairs. The boys did what was expected with them.

After the weekend, they then started on the roof panels on the front of the house. On Monday they got in about half of the panels before having to stop for the concrete guys.

Our flatwork contractor showed up and poured the front two porches. We were excited to get those in as they would allow the rest of the porch framing to go in.

While he was there he went ahead and put the piers in for the back porch and deck support.

With the boys' side roofed in, Reed and Will enjoyed their new view.

The next clear day they were able to finish out the roof panels all the way across the front of the house.

The kids all enjoyed going upstairs and standing in their future rooms.

Next we started on the front porch roofs. First went in the cedar 6x6 columns. The roof frame and sheathing will go on top of these posts.

Today, they finished framing the front of the house and porches. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow after they finish uploading on our country-lifestyle-speed internet.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Guess what we did today? That's right, more framing! Same as yesterday! Framing's fun because you get to see progress each day. We're better able to visualize what's going on with the house and rooms.

On Wednesday, they finished the second story peak on the east side and got one ridge beam up. The ridge beams are "glue lam" beams, meaning they are several boards glued, or laminated, together to form one beam. They're about 5 inches wide by 24 inches tall, and they support the top of the roof panels all along the ridge of the 45 degree pitch roof.

Today, Thursday, they finished the other two-thirds of the ridge beam and got the window wall gable above the kitchen installed.

Here's a view of the glue lam beams. The run horizontally across the top of the picture. They're supported by engineered posts.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

After a nice three-day weekend, it was time to get back to work. Our framing crew was back at it early in the morning and got a good start. They finished up the second story floor, including the bridge between the girls and boys rooms. They also got the east wall up.

After they'd left we went out as a family and did a little clean up. Mandy picked up a burn barrel today and we put it to quick use, burning small scraps here and there. The kids thought it was fun to get to through small boards out the second story window and burn things. Will was in boy heaven. They were thrilled when we all climbed up the ladder and got to stand on the second story floor.